Given new experiments starting up and on the horizon, and the vastly increasing data volumes even at small experiments, the Nuclear Physics community has in recent years been thinking about the next generation of data processing and analysis workflows that will maximize the science output.
The software computing round table meetings - we had one on Jupyter on Tuesday, December 3, 2019
More information about the status of an electron-ion collider can be found in the documents linked below. In 2018, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine issued a report, “An Assessment of U.S.-Based Electron-Ion Collider Science.” Following the report, the directors of Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility and Brookhaven National Laboratory issued a joint statement of support. More information about the impetus for building an electron-ion collider can be found in the 2015 Long-Range Plan, issued by the Nuclear Science Advisory Committee..
Beyond sparking scientific discoveries in a new frontier of fundamental physics, an Electron-Ion Collider will trigger technological breakthroughs that have broad-ranging impacts on human health and national challenges. Research on the technologies needed to make this machine a reality is already pushing the evolution of magnets and other particle accelerator components.
Some of these advances could lead to energy-efficient accelerators, thereby dramatically shrinking the size and operating costs of accelerators used across science and industry for example, to make and test computer chips; to deliver energetic particle beams to zap cancer cells; to study and design improved sustainable energy technologies such as solar cells, batteries, and catalysts; and to develop new kinds of drugs and other medical treatments. New methods of particle detection developed for an EIC could also lead to advances in medical imaging and national security.
In truth, it’s nearly impossible to predict what will come from the knowledge gained from an EIC. History shows that applications springing from a deeper understanding of matter and fundamental forces things like GPS, microelectronics, and radiological techniques for diagnosing and treating disease often emerge many years after the foundational physics discoveries that make them possible.
But one thing is certain: Building the experiments that inspire and train the next generation of scientific explorers is essential for maintaining U.S. leadership in nuclear science and for developing the high-tech workforce needed to address some of our nation’s deepest challenges.
The Electron-Ion Collider would consist of two intersecting accelerators, one producing an intense beam of electrons, the other a beam of either protons or heavier atomic nuclei, which are then steered into head-on collisions.
The accelerators will be designed so that both beams can be polarized to around 70 percent for electrons, protons and light nuclei. Electrons will be able to probe particles from protons to the heaviest stable nuclei at a very wide range of energies, starting from 20–100 billion electron-volts (GeV), upgradable to approximately 140 GeV, to produce images of the particles’ interiors at higher and higher resolution. At least one detector and possibly more would analyze thousands of particle collisions per second, amassing the data required to tease out the smallest effects required for significant discoveries.
Building the EIC will require the same core expertise that led to the versatility of the polarized proton and heavy ion beams at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) at Brookhaven National Laboratory, and the unique polarized electron beam properties of the Continuous Electron Beam Accelerator Facility (CEBAF) at Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility. These two Department of Energy laboratories have been collaborating on initial studies and developing designs that make use of key existing infrastructure and capitalize on investments in science and technology. Each design approach would require the development of innovative accelerator and detector technologies to answer the questions described in this brochure.
There are many scientific questions that researchers expect an Electron-Ion Collider will allow them to answer. Among them are four main topics of study.
The Electron-Ion Collider is a proposed machine for delving deeper than ever before into the building blocks of matter, so that we may better understand the matter within us and its role in the universe around us.
Learn more about this first-of-its-kind machine in the documents linked below.
In light of the evergrowing role that Software & Computing play in High Energy Physics, Nuclear Physics, and related fields, Brookhaven National Laboratory, the HEP Software Foundation, and Jefferson Lab are organizing the Software & Computing Round Table to foster the interplay of computing and science. The monthly round table forum aims for knowledge transfer and to encourage common projects within our scientific community.
Accelerate your career with a new role at the nation's newest national laboratory. Here you can be part of a team exploring the building blocks of matter and lay the ground work for scientific discoveries that will reshape our understanding of the atomic nucleus. Join a community with a common purpose of solving the most challenging scientific and engineering problems of our time.
A career at Jefferson Lab is more than a job. You will be part of “big science” and work alongside top scientists and engineers from around the world unlocking the secrets of our visible universe. Managed by Jefferson Science Associates, LLC; Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility is entering an exciting period of mission growth and is seeking new team members ready to apply their skills and passion to have an impact. You could call it work, or you could call it a mission. We call it a challenge. We do things that will change the world.
At Jefferson Lab we believe in giving back to our community and encouraging the next generation of scientists and engineers. Our staff reaches out to students to advance awareness and appreciation of the range of research carried out within the DOE national laboratory system, to increase interest in STEM careers for women and minorities, and to encourage everyone to become a part of the next-generation STEM workforce. We are recognized for our innovative programs like:
1,500 students from 15 Title I schools engage in the Becoming Enthusiastic About Math and Science (BEAMS) program at the lab each school year.
60 teachers are enrolled in the Jefferson Science Associates Activities for Teachers (JSAT) program at the lab inspiring 9,000 students annually.
24 high school students have internships and 34 college students have mentorships at the lab.
Electronics Designer enthusiastically contributes to lab’s mission, knowledge pool
Marc McMullen has come a long way in understanding the work of the lab since he began his career in Hall B as a temporary employee “just pulling electrical cables” in 1996.
“I started out as your basic-level installation technician,” McMullen remembers. “We were building Hall B—the smallest and newest of the halls back then. I was hired as a temp. I was pulling cables and installing power supplies—and I didn’t know what a lot of it was that we were doing here at the lab. Back then I didn’t think about it.”
Now, McMullen is a senior instrumentation tech in the Detector Support group (DSG). He develops complex electronics systems for whatever is needed, be it a moisture sensor inside a machine or a functioning circuit board from scratch.
Once hired full time, McMullen committed himself to figuring out what, exactly, the lab produced.
“I started to wonder what we’re doing and I got interested in learning what I could do,” he said. “We don’t make things you can buy and hold, so there is no product to point to and say, ‘This is what we do.’”
To solve this riddle, McMullen turned his efforts toward asking more about the science to try to figure out how he could proactively support it.
“To get someplace, you have to absorb so much, and you have to have some value, and you want to know that the work that you do on a daily basis is important to the lab. So, I started to ask questions and learn everything I could. Now I’m the old guy who can share what I know—not in life, but at the lab,” McMullen laughs.
Working with his group, McMullen now helps to support all of the JLab experimental halls on projects of varying durations and complexities.
“We go beyond the scope of the physics division,” he explains. “We are also supporting the Electron-Ion Collider (EIC) that is being designed for Brookhaven National Laboratory. So, while there are specific spheres that our group covers, we aren’t limited from working on different projects.”
Finding new challenges
For McMullen, part of the joy he gets from his work at the lab comes from the opportunity each project gives him to tinker with new challenges while ensuring that each project is able to be completed safely.
“I wear a lot of hats and I have to do a lot of different things, including serving as the safety leader of the group,” he says.
As an electronics designer, McMullen is generally called in to advise scientists and their teams early in the process of designing an experiment. From there, McMullen is tasked with finding solutions to make the scientists’ experiments possible.
“Each project starts out with a concept in someone’s head,” he says. “We meet with the scientists to learn about what they need. From there, there are a few ways to come up with the design for equipment that will do what they need. Sometimes the design is brand new, sometimes it exists and you’re reviewing it for safety and making sure it still works with the equipment we have, and sometimes you’re making modifications to old equipment and designs.”
Reusing old equipment can save millions of dollars, depending on the equipment, and it is helpful if McMullen and his team find thorough documentation as they begin the process of redesigning it.
“As a designer, we have to be very good about documenting our work, as well, because it often happens that an experiment can reuse equipment that has already been made or used—and it is helpful to have documentation available for current scientists as well as future scientists who may need to recycle parts.
“For example, on one project, we wanted to reuse the constant current source board, which is derived from an old circuit board from a previous detector that is so old nobody really knows where the documentation is. We had a board and we didn’t have the documentation so we had to study it carefully and work backwards to create the documentation on how it is put together.”
From temporary employee to senior designer
McMullen also admits to finding tremendous value in his position as one of the lab’s longest-standing employees.
“I’ve learned that, essentially, to get someplace, you have to absorb so much through experience and learning,” he says. “As an employee, you have to add some value to your workplace. You want to know that the work that you do on a daily basis is important to the lab.”
As the self-described “old guy,” McMullen appreciates the value that his decades of experience bring to the team. Just as he relied on those more experienced engineers, scientists and technicians to help him learn about the lab as he developed his career, McMullen is eager to document and share as much of his work as he can.
“We do a lot of research and development in our group, and we come up with the latest and greatest advancements,” he says. “I know a lot of the folks at the lab because I work on their experiments. But there’s still some mystery around what our group does. Our team covers all of the halls, but we are not based in the halls. And we are in the physics division, but the scope of our work goes beyond physics.”
Amrit Yegneswaran is the leader of the 10-person group, which reports to Patrizia Rossi, deputy associate director for the Experimental Nuclear Physics division.
“Without those two, we wouldn't have the independence to work with so many groups and on so many projects,” says McMullen. “Understanding what our group can do is important to our colleagues. Our leadership is very keen on sharing what we do as a support group to help with the experiments, and the DSG website has been a big focus for us.”
DSG website as clearinghouse
“Our website is a hub of information about our group, but it’s not just to who we are as a group, we also need to put information out to tell the story of what we do.”
McMullen points out that the DSG website features an action photo of someone from the group on nearly every page. The site gives viewers a look “under the hood” of how the electronics systems work at the lab.
“In the DSG, we like to share action photos online to help get people curious about this work our group does,” McMullen explains. “The photos are meant to make people ask, ‘What’s going on here?’ and they can see in the caption that, ‘Here I am designing a circuit on the constant current source board for Hall A for the proposed SoLid magnet,’ for example.”
Nearly three decades after first starting his career at the lab, McMullen has finally determined the essence of what it is that the lab produces.
“Now, after being here all these years, I know that our product at Jefferson lab is smart people. We produce smart people,” he concludes.
Further Reading
Visit the Detector Support group (DSG) website
Search the DSG notes
Search the DSG talks
View the DSG photo log
By Carrie Rogers
The Jefferson Lab campus is located in southeastern Virginia amidst a vibrant and growing technology community with deep historical roots that date back to the founding of our nation. Staff members can live on or near the waterways of the Chesapeake Bay region or find peace in the deeply wooded coastal plain. You will have easy access to nearby beaches, mountains, and all major metropolitan centers along the United States east coast.
To learn more about the region and its museums, wineries, parks, zoos and more, visit the Virginia tourism page, Virginia is for Lovers.
To learn more about life at Jefferson Lab, click here.
We support our inventors! The lab provides resources to employees for the development of patented technology -- with over 180 awarded to date! Those looking to obtain patent coverage for their newly developed technologies and inventions while working at the lab are supported and mentored by technology experts, from its discovery to its applied commercialization, including opportunities for monetary awards and royalty sharing. Learn more about our patents and technologies here.
“Every time we solve problems, we contribute. It’s exciting times for new results and discoveries.”
“Chemistry is the art of science and art; you’re manipulating and creating things. We have lots of different recipes to work with.”
"When I’m 95 years old, I hope I will be one of those people who worked in the background to affect other people’s lives for the better."
“Generally, the mechanical engineers at the lab support the physicists. The physicists have the big ideas about how to support new science, and the engineers figure out how to make that happen.”
"Not every day is the same day. Working in research and development, it’s not a one person job."
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